Nile Early Archery Busted by Sheep

[rover758]

I guess I'm not up on the times but I didn't think open grazing was allowed in the Nile area.  Two weeks ago I had plenty of elk on my trail cam and had high hopes of getting one.  Checked my cam yesterday after a 5-day soak and now all I get is sheep.  Is there a tag required to take one?  A limit on how many you can take?     See "Jackwagon" thread on what I think of the guy in the cam who poses with a smile on his face.  Is there a specific season on Jackwagons?  I worked hard finding an area where I didn't think I'd be stepping on a fellow hunter's toes and one I could get to (disabled but let's not start that debate - I try to the best of my ability) and now with only a couple weeks left to go for the opener not sure what I'm going to do.  Lamb chops anyone?   

[D-Rock425]

I believe Nile had always been open for grazing. 

[BNAElkhntr]

Since there is a Overabundance of Cougars in the Area I'd watch those sheep

[rover758]

Didn't know what LPD Dogs were.  Still not sure what they are.  The guy did post a sign saying "Caution.  Sheep and LPD Dogs."  At least I think it was LPD.  Seems to me in some of the pics there were 3 of them.  Thanks for bringing me up to speed, D-Rock.  I have a couple back-up places I can use.  They're just harder to get to for me.  Don't have to like it but......

[D-Rock425]

What's a lpd

[MADMAX]

http://www.aphis.usda.gov/wps/portal/aphis/ourfocus/wildlifedamage/sa_operational_activities/sa_dogs/!ut/p/a0/04_Sj9CPykssy0xPLMnMz0vMAfGjzOK9_D2MDJ0MjDzd3V2dDDz93HwCzL29jAwMTfQLsh0VAXWczqE!/


I love google

[brianb231]

Those sheep and grazing has been in the nile hunting area for the better part of 25 years. They move through the area. by season they will be out of your spot and in someone elses.  We have been chased on many occasion by the Dogs. They are never really very far off the road cause the sheephearder pulls his little shed with a tractor. THey are usually concentrated to a small area as they move through.

You will be fine. It will just smell like a whole heard of Elk has lived there all year!

[boneaddict]

 

[rover758]

Thanks all for the info.  This is only my second year in the Nile.  Hunted 49 Degrees North for a number of years and then moved to the Little Nachese 3 years ago (I think it was) when it was open.  I didn't know the history of the Nachese unit so was disappointed when it closed for early archery.  I saw that tractor/shed thing heading up the 1709 line over 4th of July weekend and wondered what it was.  Now I know.    checking my cam 2 weeks ago I was saying to myself the placed wreaked of elk.  With 15 or so elk showing up every day in my cam every day I was stoked.  Then when it changed to sheep over the last week ... well, at work I'm known as Fire, Ready, Aim.  I had a cup of coffee this morning and now it's all good.  Even with the sheep in the pics I pushed at least a dozen elk yesterday when I went to go check the cam.  They were about a 1/4 mile away from where they normally are.  We'll see what the next 5 day soak brings.

[boneaddict]

Your elk will be there and will be just fine.   

[bowguy]

I'd still hunt your spot. I have pictures with cattle and elk, sheep and elk, and deer and elk in the same photos. Besides the herd will probably be down the road by season open.

[Johnb317]

Did someone imply lpd's will attack humans!    I had to change spots hunting in Idaho due to the sheep herders coming through.  Dogs just looked at me, and the herders about 1/4mile down the trail didn't speak English. 

Large flock, seemed they pushed the elk out a little bit, and really couldn't see sitting among the sheep and waiting for the elk to come in. 
I've heard elk bark at the horses..... Just hope the sheep have moved on by season.

[rover758]

Went and checked the trail cam yesterday.  No elk.  One bear.  100 sheep.  Came face to face with two of the LPDs.  They weren't happy and voiced their opinion of seeing me.  A lot of noise but no agressive charging.  I simply walked back the way I came.  I was lucky enough to run across the shepard and asked him how much longer he would have his sheep there.  I got the "don't speak English" thing.  Me queda egual.  Yo puedo hablar el espanol.  Short conversation in Spanish and he told me he was moving them (quite a ways away) this week.  I told him I had some great picutes of him in my trail cam.  He just smiled.  Found a new sweet spot and was fixing to set up another trail cam.  That's when I noticed someone else's trail cam.  Sorry.  I vacated the area and will leave it alone.  Good luck to all.  Sep 2 comin' quick!!!

[pianoman9701]

I was in one of my favorite hunting spots in the GPNF about ten years ago and started hearing rustling and branches breaking. Heart starts pumpin, vision and hearing get really sharp. Round the corner comes this sheep, and then another, and then the herd. They didn't even have a dog with them. Another time the same, except with a few cattle. It won't be long before the wolves start eating them, I'm sure.

[raydog]

I was in one of my favorite hunting spots in the GPNF about ten years ago and started hearing rustling and branches breaking. Heart starts pumpin, vision and hearing get really sharp. Round the corner comes this sheep, and then another, and then the herd. They didn't even have a dog with them. Another time the same, except with a few cattle. It won't be long before the wolves start eating them, I'm sure.

Nope only coyotes eat sheep

[lee]

Be careful around those sheep. This happened alittle south of the 1709 in the Hindoo basin:

History of Klickitat, Yakima, and Kittitas Counties, Washington
published in 1904    
A Fatal Sheep Stampede
 
George W. McCredy, one of central Washington's well-known pioneer stockmen, is the authority for the following story of a remarkable accident whereby a faithful sheep herder met his death in the foothills of Kittitas county:

In the summer of 1889, Cameron Brothers lost 1,200 head of sheep in Kittitas county by what is known among sheepmen as "piling up and smothering to death." One of the features of the accident, which made it the more distressing and served to bring out the heroism of one man, is the fact that the herder, familiarly known as "Hindoo John," with his dogs, was caught under the sheep and also smothered.

At the time it was thought that the herder had deserted his place and left the country. The falsity of this story was proven the following spring, when his body, with those of his dogs, was brought to light by someone examining the great pile of sheep bones on the steep hillside. Then he was exonerated from the charge of unfaithfulness. From all the circumstances and surrounding conditions the accident was accounted for in this way: The sheep had become frightened while grazing upon the steep mountain side and had run for safety toward a clump of bushes and small trees. Reaching there, the leaders could get no farther and were eventually crushed down by the mad rush from their rear. The frightened sheep continued to clamber on top of one another and to be trodden down until they could climb no higher, but were turned aside.

The shepherd, it is thought, was trying, with the assistance of his faithful dogs, to loosen the blockade from the lower side and thus save the lives of his charges, when herder and dogs were caught under the moving, writhing mass and crushed to death. The weather was very warm and soon decomposition had set in. Within a comparatively few hours from the time of the accident the stench arising there from was so great that no one could approach within several hundred feet. Nor could examination be made for several months afterward. It is said that the grease from this pile of bodies ran in a stream for a distance of half a mile into the valley.

Lee

[lee]

Fyi, sheep were Still up there on thursday. So were the 50 dummy tents stashed at every hunting camp, only one of those camps were staffed.

Hum, .... sounds like allot of "abandoned litter" that needs to be disposed of. 

[washelkhunter]

Fyi, sheep were Still up there on thursday. So were the 50 dummy tents stashed at every hunting camp, only one of those camps were staffed.

What a surprise. You should take some pics, maybe you should
pull all the tents up and take them to the rangers as well, make it a "clean up the Nile day". 

[jackelope]

You can probably thank some of those sheep for the decimation of the Tieton bighorn sheep herd.

 

[RadSav]

You can probably thank some of those sheep for the decimation of the Tieton bighorn sheep herd.

Exactly what I was thinking!  I do not know how far apart they are or have been.  But that seems too close to me

[hughjorgan]

You can probably thank some of those sheep for the decimation of the Tieton bighorn sheep herd.

 

Do they run herds of sheep in the cowiche/rimrock area? I know there are cattle in the cowiche... I wouldn't think that the sheep in the Nile would have any impact of the Big Horn sheep around high way 12 would they?

[ctwiggs1]

Fyi, sheep were Still up there on thursday. So were the 50 dummy tents stashed at every hunting camp, only one of those camps were staffed.

I wa there yesterday and saw the same thing.  Doh!

[rover758]

I was up there (1709/1791 line) late yesterday around 6:30ish and the sheep are gone.  Not sure where they went.  When I spoke to the shepard a couple weeks ago he said was moving them "way over there" and pointed south'ish.  The tents are multiplying.  Some of them I've seen for 6 weeks with no occupants.   

Good luck to all out there next week.

[ctwiggs1]

Yeah I kinda wish they would start cracking down on that stuff.  It's pretty annoying to come up and see tents everywhere but only 2 trucks.

[northcoast]

Who knows... maybe they were all out road scouting.   Getting prepped for all their road hunting.

In all seriousness, if those tents have really been up that long then call and report them.  Give the ranger the coordinates and the dates when they moved in.  Setting up a tent that early is ridiculous. Nothing should be up before Labor Day weekend at the earliest.

[troyspinetar]

Is everybody hunting the Nile? Seems like it will be nuts with people. 

[D-Rock425]

I hope everyone goes to the nile since everything else is on fire.

[pianoman9701]

I know there are about 25 of us going to the Nile. It's for the mutton, baby. 

[ctwiggs1]

Are you guys all going archery?  It's like a giant H-W family reunion

[HUNTINCOUPLE]

The Nile is a very good place to archery hunt. Lots of animals for all.

[pianoman9701]

The count now is up to 35. I'm going to Big 5 tonight to buy 10 cheap tents and save a bunch of spots for next week. This'll be a blast. Now, a lot of the guys have never shot their new bows yet and there are several that haven't worn their boots and don't have camo, but I figure if we just locate the other camps and the guys who know what's going on, we can follow them around and be successful. Thought?

[ctwiggs1]

The count now is up to 35. I'm going to Big 5 tonight to buy 10 cheap tents and save a bunch of spots for next week. This'll be a blast. Now, a lot of the guys have never shot their new bows yet and there are several that haven't worn their boots and don't have camo, but I figure if we just locate the other camps and the guys who know what's going on, we can follow them around and be successful. Thought?

  

Ok but can you send GPS coordinates if you find a honey hole?

[salmonslayer]

The way I hear it some of those tents up 1706 already got "disposed of."  Who squats on a campsite for weeks on public land?  Seems like a real jerk thing to do...

[pianoman9701]

My job here is done!   

[HUNTINCOUPLE]

The way I hear it some of those tents up 1706 already got "disposed of."  Who squats on a campsite for weeks on public land?  Seems like a real jerk thing to do...

I believe they fall under the JACKWAGON category?  And or definition.

[ctwiggs1]

USFS could do a tag program. 

If they attached tags to the tents that are up that are suspected of being "tent squatters", and checked them three days later, the majority of the tents would be gone. 

Any tents that still have tags would get hauled away as litter and any that have tags torn could remain.

[billdo5]

Same thing happened to me in Bethel Ridge few years back.... 

[D-Rock425]

Billdo what a surprise

[billdo5]

Billdo what a surprise

u miss me sweat heart  i missed u 

[pianoman9701]

Welcome back, Bildo. 

[stickman999]

I was poking around clover springs over the weekend (scouting for my modern any bull tag) and I ran into the sheep herder at the end of the disabled hunter road said he was moving his flock southeast.  I also noticed the abundance of dummy camps. Is there really that many people up there that you have to get your spot a week early? Anyways good luck to you guys and keep me posted of all big bull sightings.

[D-Rock425]

Billdo what a surprise

u miss me sweat heart  i missed u 

and he's gone just that quick.

[theshade]

Fyi, sheep were Still up there on thursday. So were the 50 dummy tents stashed at every hunting camp, only one of those camps were staffed.

I plan on going up there on the 30-31-01, depending on work etc. I called the Naches RD on Monday and filed a formal complaint with them about the dummy camps, I hope they've been busy.